[First name] — so far at Resume Worded, we've been focused on giving you the best support for your resume. But there's more to a career than a good resume. That's where this email - the Coached Weekly - comes in.

Each week, you'll get career strategy from me. I've coached people for a decade and I distill the tiny % of ideas and tactics that I've seen work in real careers. No-fluff.

500,000+ smart professionals read these emails religiously and many say the tactics they've learned have substantially sped up their careers. So, my guess is you'll like it too. But, I'll let you decide. Let's dive in.

How to introduce yourself better

Most people introduce themselves exactly the same way ("Hi, I'm [name], I work at [company] as a [title]"). It’s boring, forgettable and makes conversations with new people tough.

❌ Bad: "I moved to NYC for work, and I'm a data scientist at Resume Worded." That story's boring because EVERYONE in New York moved there for work.

✅ Good: "I'm a bit of a third culture kid. Grew up in Singapore and London, which explains my funny accent. Decided to move to New York for the energy and ended up falling in love with data science." You want your story to be original.

Make this small change and people will instantly find you more interesting and memorable. Building relationships gets easier when you give people multiple connection points.

How to reinvent yourself in your career: a true story

One person I think is cool is Mario Ancic.

He was the number 7 tennis player in the world. Beat Federer on grass. Made the Wimbledon semifinals. Then mononucleosis forced him to end his career at 26.

Instead of becoming another ex-athlete who got stuck in their identity and now commentate or coach, he went to Columbia Law School. Passed the bar. Rose up the ranks at different law firms. Then he switched into finance. Now, he's a principal at a major private equity firm.

What's cool:

His LinkedIn doesn't mention tennis. Not in his headline. Not in his bio. Only a tiny mention hidden if you drill into all his work experiences.

His LinkedIn profile

That's the part that gets me. Most people who achieve something significant spend the rest of their lives reminding everyone about it. They become prisoners of their best achievement.

Ancic just moved on. Started over as a law student. Then again as a junior associate. Then again in private equity. Each time accepting being the beginner in the room despite having been world-class at something else.

Some takeaways from his story:

• Reinvention is hard, but it's possible. Just because you've spent years becoming great at one field doesn't mean you can't excel at something completely different.
• Letting go of old achievements makes life more interesting. You get to be a beginner again, learn new things, meet different people.
• Growth requires being bad at something again.
• When moving fields, you might feel you're losing years of experience. But you're not. Your skills are more transferrable than you think. But you only get to use those skills if you're willing to let go of the identity first.
• Combining your main skill with another skill makes you more valuable. An accountant who knows marketing attracts more clients. A salesperson who learns coding saves hours every week with automations. Ancic combined athletic discipline with law and finance. What unique skill could you realistically add?

I LOVE inspiring stories like this that go against the norm. Most people think you always need to stay in your lane…but it's nice to see that even wild reinventions are possible. And your current chapter doesn't always need to be your final one.

Btw:

Whether you're thinking about a change or just want to understand yourself better, it's useful to know…what are your patterns and limiting beliefs? What are the stories you tell yourself?

One thing I'd recommend is this 3-minute impact assessment that we built with actual PhDs and career coaches. It reveals how you truly operate — your hidden patterns, what motivates you, why you work the way you do. These deep personality insights are normally very expensive, but you get them for free.

If you haven't tried it yet, you really should. People who've taken it keep saying things like "this explained everything" and "I wish I had this years ago." It'll genuinely help you make better career moves. Takes less time than your commute (unless you work from home). Try the Coached Impact Assessment now.

Speak soon,

Rohan Mahtani

Founder at Resume Worded

🤣 BTW: use this AI cover letter tool. It’ll write cover letters that actually have personality and don’t sound like AI — unlike ChatGPT.

Generate a cover letter

Don't waste your time writing a cover letter for each job. Generate one that doesn't sound like AI.

LOL so true

tip: use PDF always! as long as you generate the PDF through word/google docs (and not through something like Canva), it’ll be perfectly readable by resume screeners

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